About

The Florida-France Soldier Stories project seeks to tell the stories of Florida servicemen buried in World War II ABMC (American Battle Monuments Commission) cemeteries in France. These U.S. Army soldiers and airmen gave their lives in 1943 – 1946 to secure the liberation of France, defeat Germany, and assist in the postwar reconstruction of Europe. Inspired by the collaboration of Dr. Mary Louise Roberts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Association U.S. Memory Grand Est-France, Dr. Amelia Lyons created the Florida-France Soldier Stories project at the University of Central Florida. Beginning in 2015, as one of their assignments, students in her history classes wrote biographies of Florida servicemen buried at Epinal ABMC cemetery in eastern France in order to honor their service, preserve their memories, and learn the methodologies of historical research. The project has evolved substantially from a short assignment that occurred in just a couple of weeks, to a semester long project, dedicated to the research and writing of these soldiers’ stories. We have learned much as we have developed the curriculum. The biographies reflect this evolution, which in recent years has resulted in more thoroughly researched biographies of servicemembers buried in several ABMC WWII cemeteries in France.  

The Florida-France Soldier Stories project has partnered with UCF’s RICHES™ (Regional Initiative for Collecting the History, Experiences and Stories) to digitize, collect, and map the primary sources relevant to the soldiers’ biographies, such as census records, draft registration cards, newspaper articles, and more. Directed by Dr. Connie Lester, RICHES™ is an interdisciplinary digital project that partners with multiple academic units at the University of Central Florida, six other Florida universities, and commercial and nonprofit sectors of the community. The project has two goals: 1) to serve as a model for documenting regional history, especially “hidden” history and culture, through an interactive database that draws from multiple repositories and personal collections, and 2) to develop new digital tools for historians. To see the RICHES collection for soldiers buried at the Epinal American Cemetery, click here.

This project benefits from the support of UCF’s Center for Humanities and Digital Research (CHDR), a collaborative research hub in the College of Arts and Humanities which fosters groundbreaking interdisciplinary digital research. Founded in 2007, and directed by Dr. Amy Giroux, CHDR provides space, resources, expertise, programming, and digital research support for faculty projects, including Florida-France Soldiers Stories. It also extends its assistance to students and to the surrounding communities of Central Florida and beyond. 

From 2017 to 2019, Dr. Lyons’ history students also participated in a parallel project, The UCF Veterans Legacy Program. In this partnership between the University of Central Florida and the VA’s National Cemetery Administration, students researched and wrote the biographies of Florida servicemen buried or interred in Florida’s national cemeteries and ABMC cemeteries: to read the biographies of Florida servicemen and women in the Florida National Cemetery, Bay Pines National Cemetery, St. Augustine National Cemetery, the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery or the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, click here.

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Principal Investigator

• Dr. Amelia Lyons

Digital Consultants

• Dr. Amy Giroux
• Dr. Brook Miller

Research Librarian Consultants

• Richard Harrison
• Rich Gause

Staff Support

• Kayla Campana
• Jessie Oldham

Student Involvement

Support and Assistance in France

We thank Priscille Ludwikowski, Anne Trapet, and Yann Siefert for providing photographs we have published as part of our research.

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For more information about the project, please reach out to us at Amelia.Lyons@ucf.edu.